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Nik Lewis gets the fact Calgary Stampeders fans brace themselves annually for the possibility, however remote, that the evil tackler known as age finally has finally caught up to No. 82.

Sure, Lewis has 10 gruelling seasons on the odometer. And sure the 31-year-old makes his living in the high-traffic, high-punishment areas of the field.

But judging by his performance thus far in the 2013 Canadian Football League campaign, the engine isn’t about ready to drop out of the old chassis just yet.

“That’s my goal every year to prove myself to everybody — the fans, the ownership, the coaches and my teammates — that I can still do it and that I’m still dependable and I’m still consistent,” Lewis say in the wake of Friday’s 42-27 victory over the Saskatchewan Roughriders. “I just go out and do what I do.

“I don’t really take a lot of punishment, because nobody really hits me except the defensive ends, and that’s when I go down and hit them. That’s really the only banging that I do. No defensive backs really hit me.

“In all honesty though, I feel like a basketball player with a jump shot,” Lewis says. “I’m never really going to lose a step, because I never had a step. So I can’t lose a step.”

At least the guy tells it like it is.

“It’s like Ray Allen,” Lewis says, referencing the ageless wonder for the Miami Heat. “Ray Allen can play basketball until he retires. He can play until he’s 50, because he can shoot the ball.

“I can play as long as I want — as long as I’m feeling healthy, because I can go out and do what I have to do. It doesn’t take speed. It doesn’t take a lot of different things, and I know the game. I feel good.

“I feel like I’ll be able to walk away from this game on my own terms as long as I stay healthy. I just hope it’s here in Calgary and not anywhere else.”

Of course the Stampeders considered trading Lewis last winter due in no small part to his tendency to wander offside on Twitter.

With a stern warning to clean up his act, the team opted to keep the five-foot-10, 240-pounder right here in Calgary.

So far, that decision has paid off. Lewis leads the Stamps in receiving with 31 catches for 381 yards through six games in an offence designed to spread the ball around.

For proof of his impact, look no further the Kevin Glenn-to-Nik Lewis drive with the game on the line Friday against Saskatchewan.

The drive featured three passes for 55 yards, all to Nik Lewis.

“They were three different types of plays,” Glenn says. “The first one, he caught the ball in traffic. The second one, he ran a really good route on Craig Butler and got open in man-to-man. And then the next one, he breaks a tackle and scores on a 25-yard touchdown pass.

“He’s a great guy to play with. I love his confidence and his demeanour. On the field, he feels like nobody can stop him.”

The Nik Lewis swagger knows zero bounds.

“Even though he’s older, he still has exceptional quickness and strength,” says head coach/general manager John Hufnagel. “And that’s how he really gets open — by getting on top of people and using his hands so well and getting out of breaks.

“Now, you’re not going to put him on the outside versus corners and win a lot of go-routes. But if you asked him, he would probably say he could do it.”

Indeed.

“If it was a situation where Nik knew every pass was going to come to him, he would say, ‘do it’ — even if the other team knew it,” Glenn says. He’s that type of guy and he has that kind of confidence.”

As for the non-stop lobbying by No. 82, Glenn played in Winnipeg with Milt Stegall. So he’s accustomed to working in the company of men not shy of flaunting their greatness.

“I let it go in one ear and out the other,” Glenn says. “I’ve been around enough good receivers to know that they want the ball. Everyone always wants the ball. They’re always open, regardless of whether guys are draped all over them. They’re open.

“I enjoy it though to know that you have guys on your team who want the ball, and they’re not going to shy away from it when it comes their way.”

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